Several years ago, I watched a short video that had gone viral. The footage was taken from the camera of a hotel elevator and in it, a young woman seemed to be running or hiding from someone. Several times, she peered slowly outside of the elevator, as if checking to see if she was being followed, before darting back into the corner so she wouldn’t be seen. She pressed all of the buttons rapidly. She moved erratically. I remember thinking she must have been in some sort of danger. …
A lot of people know the It’s A Wonderful Life story by now; how it was a box office bomb in the 40s and then, due to a clerical issue, the copyright wasn’t renewed in 1974. The cable networks could pick it up for pennies, showing it over and over whenever they had a gap in the holiday schedule to fill, turning it into a beloved Christmas movie over the decades, which is why it airs every year around the holidays.
The Nightmare Before Christmas was my It’s A Wonderful Life growing up. Released in 1993, it has held its…
The Way We Work Now
The airline industry’s new safety protocols are merely a placebo to encourage people to fly again
A morning ritual is a difficult thing to keep up when the world as you know it is falling apart — especially when you work in the airline industry.
I woke up this morning in a hotel, which I typically do three mornings out of the week. I did yoga for 15 minutes, something I’m trying to do more regularly. I made my iced coffee. I took my medication and followed my skin care routine. I put on my uniform and my airline-issued face mask. …
I: How did this happen? You must have seen that the wire was barbed
F: I was hungry. And there are berries beyond the fence
I: But now you’re snared. Your leg is cut down to the bone. You’ve cut your mouth open too, trying to bite through the wire
F: What’s a little blood and bone? We all come down to it in the end
I: Was it worth it?
F: You must be young, yet. What’s worth got to do with living? If you’re hungry, you hunt. If something goes wrong, bite through it. You’ve got teeth for…
Unlearning the impulse to stereotype is a difficult, life-long project.
Recently, when discussing how best to go about helping my teenaged cousin unlearn the prejudices taught to him by his parents, my mother told me “You’re a good example for your sexual persuasion, because you aren’t too in-your-face about it.”
This is something I hear from straight people a lot, when discussing the LGBT community and our values. I hear a lot about those, too; “family values” and, specifically, how they and people like me cannot coexist. As if LGBT people don’t have families and values of our own. As if we don’t consistently step in and uphold those values…
When I first heard about gratitude journals, I was newly eighteen and homeless.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been homeless, but the experience can put a damper on the whole “let’s talk about what we’re all thankful for” thing. It didn’t help that I’d first heard about it in the context of a neighbor’s very overwhelming church, which had recommended each member of their congregation keep a journal where they thanked God for various things everyday. I was not interested in thanking God for anything, let alone designating one of my beloved, unused journals to the process. I could…
Sometime in the muggiest autumn Bavaria has seen in years, I throw myself onto an active train track. My friends are shouting my name in worry. The Polizei are shouting in German. I have been drinking, but I am not drunk. I am eighteen. I am laughing. The scene is exactly as I’ve described, but it’s not what you’re thinking — at least, not in my mind.
“There was a shoe,” I explain, still laughing, after I’ve been pulled back up on the platform just as the train comes into sight. I hold the shoe in my hands; a single…
The young woman checks her reflection in the mirror. The shadows under her eyes have grown longer. The shadow over her shoulder has grown teeth.
“I can make those go away,” says the imp. “The lines around your mouth, too, your crooked teeth. I can make you so beautiful that it will break strangers’ hearts, just to see you.”
“No thank you,” says the young woman. “I don’t mind them so much.” She is too tired to fight the imp off. She has been tired for a while. She’ll probably be tired for a while, yet.
“Liar,” says the imp…
At fourteen, I befriended a lesbian — her name was Emma, and she was older, wearing her sexuality more comfortably and close to the skin. At her best friend’s birthday party, after Homecoming, I crawled into bed with her. This was not my first time sleeping next to a girl, but it was the first time I did anything about it. My attraction to women, at this stage, was still a loose and indefinable thing. …
This Is Us
I come from a long line of mothers abusing daughters
When I call my mother on Mother’s Day, we make mild conversation for 30 minutes. She asks about my job. I ask about the ducks. She complains about my father. We withdraw from the conversation as soon as good manners allow. This is, believe it or not, the healthiest our relationship has ever been. This is a victory, and it was hard-won.
My mother refused to give up her maiden name when she married. I have only ever known her as a conservative Irish Catholic woman, but by all accounts, she was a real wild card in her youth. I’ve…
Joan Tierney
Writer of all sorts of things, but mostly the Dream subgenre. Professional traveler. Lesbian. Home cook. Philly.
